₦airaland Forum

afanide:
All these bloggers self......
See how he captioned it as though it was somethong serious

Read well and go to article, the title is exactly the purpose for the article.

I know blame Cameron for comparing my country to Afghanistan, we no longer have respect for life in Nigeria. 2bad!
US/UK papers reporting killing is not in the interest of Nigeria Unity, as Internationalist read on. Just one UN resolution and it is all over.

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/nigeria-many-people-shot-during-biafra-day-events-police-orders-disarming-ipob-members-1562848


Nigeria: 'Many people shot' during Biafra Day events as police order disarming of Ipob members
Ludovica Iaccino By Ludovica Iaccino
May 31, 2016 12:06 BST
Updated 6 hr ago 23
Biafran government in exile: We want the same right given to UK in Brexit referendumIBTimes UK


Dozens of people – including two policemen – are believed to have been killed by security forces in south-eastern Nigeria during commemorations to pay homage to the victims of the 1967-1970 Nigerian civil war, also known as Biafran war. There are contrasting reports on the death toll, ranging from seven to 40.

The alleged incidents occurred on 30 May as people were holding events to remember what many refer to as the "genocide" or "holocaust of the Biafran people". It has been alleged that security forces entered St Edmund's Catholic Church, Nkpor Agu, in Anambra state, and opened fire on worshippers, accusing them of belonging to the Indigenous People of Biafra (Ipob) group. At least five people were killed in the incident.

Another 35 are believed to have been killed when security forces allegedly opened fire on Ipob members in Onitsha, Nkpor and Ogidi, the Vanguard newspaper reported.

AFP reported that at least seven people – five civilians and two police officers – were killed during clashes between pro-Biafra demonstrations and security forces in Asaba, Niger state.

An Ipob coordinator who witnessed some of the alleged violence on demonstrators in Anambra, told IBTimes UK security forces used tear gas and fired shots in the air to intimidate people, who ran away. "I witnessed a section, as the attacks were coming from all directions. Our people who were camped at a school in Nkpor Uno were attacked and many people were shot and three died," the source explained.

"The Nigerian military and police arrived at Nkpor park where some of our people ran for cover and started firing tear gases and firing gun shots into the air. At some point they aimed directly at our people, causing them to run for safety. The army arrested those who could not escape. Dead bodies in our possession are nine. The Nigerian forces took almost all the dead bodies. We tried to rescue the injured, but the shooting was too much," the source continued.

Information 'incorrect'

A spokesperson for the army denied the reports circulating on social media, telling IBTimes UK that the information was incorrect. Spokespeople for the defence and the police have not responded to a request for comments on the allegations.

The Anambra state government said the protest organised by Ipob was illegal as the organisation had failed to obtain permission by the police.

On 31 May, the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Solomon Arase, ordered security forces to disarm Ipob members who, he said, had planned to carry out attacks on police members.

"The IGP noted that the targeted attacks on police personnel, who have been performing their statutory functions in the most professional and civil manner since the latest resurgence disorder, portrays the Ipob activists who are orchestrating the insurrection as having crossed the threshold in their misguided attempt to test the common will of the nation," read the statement.

"IGP Arase," the statement continues, "while condemning the killing by members of Ipob, also directed the arrest of any member of the group found in possession of firearms and bring such to deserved justice. He added that all Ipob activists arrested in connection with the killing of the policemen should be charged to court for murder."

Nigeria's security forces have often been accused of violent acts against "unarmed" and "peaceful" pro-Biafran protesters, claims authorities strongly deny. In an exclusive report by IBTimes UK published in February, Amnesty International confirmed that Nigerian security forces had used excessive force against pro-Biafran protesters on some occasions.

Nnamdi Kanu and his wife Uchechi
Pro-Biafran leader Nnamdi Kanu with his wife Uchechi Okwu-KanuUchechi Okwu-Kanu / Facebook
Pro-Biafran movement

The Biafran territories were forcibly annexed to modern-day Nigeria during British colonisation, which ended in 1960. Following two coup d'etats and the 1966 massacres of Igbo people in northern Nigeria, the contested Biafran territories, under the leadership of military officer and politician Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, seceded from Nigeria and declared independence on 30 May 1967.

The Biafran Republic was reannexed to Nigeria in 1970, but breakaway calls have continued since.

The pro-Biafran movement has gained renewed momentum following the arrest of Nnamdi Kanu, one of the leaders of the movement, in October 2015. Kanu, Ipob leader and director of UK-based Radio Biafra, is standing trial on six counts of treasonable felony charges.

The Nigerian government has always maintained that Nigeria's unity was a priority for the country and that although peaceful pro-Biafran protests were welcome, demanding the breakaway of the Biafran territories went against the constitution.

While the terrorist group, blamed for 20,000 deaths over the past seven years, has taken a beating, it is down but not out. Analysts warn, meanwhile, that Buhari’s harsh approach to unrest of any kind may be causing more problems than it solves across Nigeria as a whole.

Clearly, u cannot fight fire with fire. U cannot fight protesters with AK47. They too will pick AK47 and matters worst, unlike Boko Haram trained to fight and die these one will fight run, return and fight like gorillas.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/31/buhari-crackdown-nigeria-fails-boko-haram


Buhari's crackdown in Nigeria fails to stamp out Boko Haram
A year ago at his inauguration the president promised to eliminate the terror group, still classed as one of the world’s most deadly
Simon Tisdall
Tuesday 31 May 2016 13.56
Time is up for Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria’s president and former army general, who promised before his inauguration on 29 May last year to stamp out Boko Haram within 12 months – and has singularly failed to do so, despite a tough military crackdown in the country’s north-east.

While the terrorist group, blamed for 20,000 deaths over the past seven years, has taken a beating, it is down but not out. Analysts warn, meanwhile, that Buhari’s harsh approach to unrest of any kind may be causing more problems than it solves across Nigeria as a whole.

At a summit in Abuja earlier this month, Buhari appeared to admit the difficulty of fulfilling the task he set himself. The meeting included representatives from Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger. France, the US, Britain and the EU, who back the anti-Boko Haram campaign, also attended.


UK to send more armed forces to Nigeria to advise on Boko Haram
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Despite increased support from London and Washington, which have each sent about 300 troops to the region in a training and advisory capacity, Buhari’s aim was yet closer military cooperation via an expanded international effort.

“I believe Buhari is acknowledging ... that it is not easy for the military to just go out there and eliminate Boko Haram,” Martin Ewi of the Institute for Security Studies told al-Jazeera. “The rural areas have always been neglected when it comes to security and that has always been the problem – the ungoverned places.”

Nigerian army offensives have won back territory from Boko Haram in the past year, and the number and frequency of terrorist attacks has fallen significantly.

Last year’s dramatic announcement by Boko Haram’s leader, Abubakar Shekau, that he was entering into an alliance with Islamic State appears to have been a propaganda stunt amounting to little in practical terms.

Analysis Boko Haram-Isis alliance is nothing but superficial propaganda
Simon Tisdall
Simon Tisdall Read more
Yet when one of the 276 Chibok schoolgirl hostages abducted in 2014, Amina Ali Darsha Nkeki, was rescued earlier this month, Buhari made great play of it, having her flown to meet him in Abuja. The fuss looked like a slightly desperate bid to deflect attention from the fact the other girls remain unaccounted for.

Also contradicting the official “winning” narrative is evidence that faced by more determined military pressure, Boko Haram is resorting to wider use of suicide bombings, carried out by women and children, and increased attrition, including more hostage-taking.

According to the 2015 Global Terrorism Index, a survey by the New York-based Institute for Economics and Peace, Boko Haram remains the most deadly terrorist group in the world.

And there are growing fears that, evolving in parallel to the internationalisation of the counter-terrorism campaign, a once localised hardline Islamist movement is morphing into a regional jihadist threat.


Nigerian president meets schoolgirl who escaped Boko Haram
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The disastrous economic and social legacy of Boko Haram’s depredations, and a linked, ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Lake Chad basin, has brought calls for Buhari to adopt a more constructive approach extending beyond crude military suppression tactics.

Amnesty International claimed recently that the Nigerian army, notorious for past human rights abuses, had killed 350 Muslim civilians in northern Kaduna state and secretly buried them in a mass grave.

In a statement linked to the Abuja summit, the UN security council urged regional states to pursue “a comprehensive strategy to address the governance, security, development, socio-economic and humanitarian dimensions of the crisis”.

The independent Brussels-based International Crisis Group said Boko Haram was “seemingly on a back foot, but it is unlikely to be eliminated in a decisive battle”. Regional powers should “move beyond military cooperation and design a more holistic local and regional response”.

In particular, the ICG said, Nigeria and its allies should more effectively collate and exploit information gathered from captured fighters, abductees, defectors and civilians in newly recaptured areas.

Nnamdi Obasi, the ICG’s senior analyst for Nigeria, warned that Buhari’s tough approach was having a negative knock-on effect in other Nigerian trouble spots. He pointed in particular to the south-east, where Igbo secessionist groups are demanding the restoration of the ill-fated republic of Biafra.


Nigerian army killed 350 and secretly buried the bodies, Amnesty says
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Nigeria’s Middle Belt has seen increasing levels of violence between local communities, while the 2009 peace deal that ended the insurgency in the oil-rich Niger Delta is unravelling, Obasi said. Up-and-coming militant groups included the so-called Niger Delta Avengers and the Egbesu Mightier Fraternity.

Peaceful manifestations of unrest had been met with harsh measures, including arbitrary arrests.

“Both groups have sent the government their lists of demands, mostly for local control of oil revenues, threatening even more crippling attacks if they are ignored. The government’s response – deploying more military assets and threatening an unmitigated crackdown – portends an escalation of the violence,” Obasi said.

Insecurity and social tension is being aggravated across Nigeria by its deteriorating economic situation, a 70% year-on-year devaluation of the national currency, the naira, fuel and power shortages, rising unemployment and continuing problems with endemic corruption, the ICG said.

A poster displaying wanted Boko Haram suspects. Photograph: Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters